


Fuck, Why Did We Think Ghost Hunting Was a Good Career

by sal_amander



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Sally Face (Video Games)
Genre: AU, Also death is non-binary, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Hufflepuff, Kinda, M/M, One sided relationship, Reincarnation, abusive Vernon tw by the way, because I need positivity, but that's all I can say rn, lots of bonding and huffelpuff unity, positivity? Who’s she?, probably a weird mix of positivity/bonding and angst tbh tho...
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-10-03
Packaged: 2019-12-30 04:16:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18308018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sal_amander/pseuds/sal_amander
Summary: Technically set after chapter four.Ghost hunting and everything else sorta paid off in the end, it seemed. After all, taking care of Death’s work got you major brownie points. Of course, that tied with a double of a ghost anomaly, a weird ass not-reincarnation, split timelines, and actual magic, Sal doesn’t get anything easy.





	1. Restart?

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Sally Face or Harry Potter.  
> Edited! Fixed a few inconsistencies.

A loud, humming screech. Electricity. Bright flashing. Pain. 

And then? 

Nothing.

Sal found himself in that familiar vast blankness- sans the phantom he used to find here. 

He was shorter as well, it appeared, and he wasn’t wearing the prison uniform anymore. He was wearing what used to be his usual- a black sweater and muted red, torn skinny jeans. His hair was back in it’s old ponytails and he didn’t have his mask on- it was in his hands oddly enough.

He fastened it quickly, and looked around- almost jumping when a figure in dark clothes appeared in front of him.

“Ah, there you are. I was wondering how long it was going to take you. Too many brushes by my side- made you a bit more stubborn”

Sal shifted, clearly uncomfortable, didn’t form comprehensible words, but what he jumbled had a generally confused tone.

The figure, not clothed in some sort of dark clothing as he thought, was made of a sort of shadowy darkness- almost like a silhouette with misty edges. They gave a feeling of amusement, and if it had more human-like features, Sal was sure it would be smirking.

“My apologies, Fisher. I was referring to your Death- and past evasions of it.”

“Oh. So I’m dead then? That seems like a good assumption…” Sal asked, blinking at his much… higher voice. 

“More or less, yes. Due to an incident involving a messed up ghost formation - not yours - I am quite unable to release you to the afterlife or turn you into a ghost. Not that I would have anyway- your ‘adventures’ in that apartment building haved saved me quite a bit of paperwork you see?” They said quickly, with a faint echo.

“...oh.”

The being shifted to the other side of Sal, humming quietly.

“Basically, I have leeway now to let you ‘play again’,” they made air quotes at this. 

“So you mean I can-”

“Probably not. Your slice of space is one of a kind- you can’t go back to your past.”

Sal thought over the wording just a moment. 

“Only my past? So I’m doing someone else’s? Is that why i’m… younger?” Sal could guess his current age just barley, probably around eight years old- give or take. God, that is weird.

The being nodded approvingly.

“Good. Good. Yes, that is correct. You’ll be carrying out someone else’s… important bit of life. He died and I didnt have any excuse to keep him alive. You came round, and well…”

Sal nodded. “Um, can I get a bit of background info on living situation, family? Things he- I should know?”

“Of course. The boy’s name is Harry Potter, he was ten. He lives with his aunt petunia and uncle vernon dursley, and cousin dudley- rather nasty people, because his parents died when he was a baby. He has abilities you humans call magic. Magic and paranormal oddities are vastly different things keep in mind- and the ghosts are different too. You have seen what they call ‘Muggle Ghosts’ which are far more powerful than ‘Magical Ghosts’ but you can look it up more in time.”

“You will take his place- and his magic. I’ll be giving you a few abilities as well. The first they call a Metamorphmagus. People who are this can change how they look- so feel free to change between ‘Harry’ and yourself whenever you want. I’ll only be giving it to you partially though- eye color, hair color and hair length. I’m stretching my abilities already. The other ability is summoning and interacting with any type of ghost without need of sources of energy or anything else.” The being finished, and went silent, shifting. They seemed conflicted.

“What is it?” Sal asked, little emotion but confusion.

“Harry died close to your apartments, I would recommend staying as ‘Harry’ until you get back to England- your current residency. I would recommend checking out the treehouse at twelve tonight- no one alive will be there, and you’ll need to find... someone.”

Sal hummed. “Does this have to the ghost formation anomaly you talked about earlier?”

“It is. That is all I can say now, my time allotment is about to run out- go through this door,” he waved his hands and a shadowy door appeared. “It will lead to the hotel closet, where Harry had been sleeping. Good luck.” At the final word, he vanished.

Sal waited a moment, and turned to the door. Sighing, he walked through, into a darkened closet. He could hear a T.V. running, and a bit of speaking. 

There was no body on the floor like he expected there to be, though It made sense, as he was replacing the boy.

He reached up to mess with his hair, to realize it was different. Shorter, and a bit rougher but far curlier than his normally shoulder length, wavy head. He must have defaulted to ‘Harry’ after walking through the door. 

He noticed a bit of pain and slight stickiness to his back. Ah. So Harry’s relatives were those kind of people. 

He slid the closet door open slowly, wincing at the racket. Nobody noticed though, the TV was on too loud for that. He walked into the bathroom quickly, shutting and locking the door, and turned to the mirror. 

His hair was shorter alright. A lot shorter. And extremely curly- just about a reflection of Todd’s, if it weren't for the color. Onyx black. His eyes were an odd bottle green, and his pupils had just a slight red tint- enough to make him somewhat uncanny but not enough to be extremely noticeable.

Sal frowned, tugging at his hair a bit.

He thought for a moment, trying to figure out how to make it longer and more… familiar, if he can’t do blue right now. A second passed. A minute, and he shrugged. No loss in just trying to wish it to happen. 

He stared at the mirror, and to his surprise, his hair slowly grew longer, stopping just passed his shoulders. The curls faded to moderate, borderline curly, waves. He couldn’t change his hair color right now, thinking back to what the being, assumed death, had said. 

He ran his hand across his face after, marveling at the smoothe, unblemished texture. After so long with masks and scars, it was almost alien to him. 

His mask.

How didn’t he realize he wasn’t wearing it?

He had the rest of his usual getup, sans ponytails, so where was his mask?

Sal made his way back to the closet silently, and found it in the corner. It must have fallen off- or maybe he dropped it? He shrugged. He had it, even if he didn’t really need it, and it was a comfort.

He heard loud footsteps stomping towards the closet, and he hid the mask in Harry’s- his bag. He had a bad feeling, and the pain on his backs skin didn’t help. 

The door slid open, and he got his first look at this ‘Vernon Dursley’- moderate in height, excessively thick, and dressed surprisingly well. If it hadn’t been for the almost sharp looking suit - effect ruined by the man wearing it - he would have made a vague connection to Charlie.

“Boy! You were to start Lunch ten- What did you do to your HAIR?!” 

Vernon’s face turned a worrying shade of purple, and his already irate face grew furious.

“I wanted it longer. So I made it longer.”

Vernon twitched.

“I won’t have you be some sort of fairy on top of the Freak you are. Get out. Don’t come back till tomorrow. NOW!”

Sal shrugged, grabbing his bag, and walked out of the hotel room, nicking thirty bucks from Vernon’s wallet on the way out. He wasn’t worried about them leaving him. He would be perfectly content being left, but he had a feeling that something made the Dursleys keep him. His intuition rarely led him wrong, so he didn’t worry much.

It was odd, walking around Nockfell before he came here originally. The hole in the wall burger place he frequented was currently being built. There was a run down, abandoned gas station instead of a car lot. A field stood in place of what would be a small park in the future. 

But the streets were the same, as were most buildings and shops. He recognised a few people, but didn’t go up to them. 

Sal stopped by a dollar store, grabbing a pack of hair bands and lunch for himself- a pb&j sandwich and bottle of Dr Pepper. He bought a resealable bag of sour watermelon candies as well. 

The cashier had given him an odd glance, but he mentioned he had family waiting in the car. A lie, but it didn’t do any harm, and the cashier didn’t say much else.

He went out to the field and finally tied his hair up into the usual ponytails. He swished his head for just a moment, and climbed up a sturdy-looking tree. He hooked his bag on a branch separate to the one he was sitting on, but easily reachable. And with that, he ate his late lunch in silence, listening to the trees.

He sat there maybe two hours before someone walked into the field. Actually, make that two someones.

A tall woman with wavy long brown hair, and a teen with hair that was just a bit straighter.

Of course he recognised them.

Of course they were here.

Sal could hit himself for being so stupid- the thought that he’d see Larry never crossed his mind. 

Seeing him now, well, god it hurt. 

He watched for a bit, up in the tree. They were on the other side of the field, so he wouldn’t have to interact with them.

A bit later, he left the tree, walking back into town.

He wandered a while, mostly window shopping.

He had gone through the bag while up in the tree, and decided new clothes were in order- or used clothes at least. Cheaper, broken into, and Vernon was less likely to notice. He picked through the clothes in his bag. The torn, stained ones he threw in an alley dumpster, the better looking ones he put back. There was a resale store near here that let you swap items, and that was what he was going to start off doing.

Sal took the nicer but still far to big clothes to the register, got his voucher -ten articles of clothing for ten articles of clothing- and started looking. A pair of dark wash grey pants, black pants, and pale blue pants- not to be confused with the jean coloration, were added to his basket quickly.

Next were shirts. Two t-shirts, one a washed out black and one maroon, were added. Then a navy colored sweater, followed by a pale orange one. A black long sleeve shirt. 

He grabbed a pair of red converse off the rack. They were in rather nice condition, just a tad dirty. He also grabbed a red jacket- reminding him of Larry’s for a moment. The Jacket was large on him- but it was in better condition than Harry’s original, so he still put it in the basket

Sal brought it all up to the cashier, and she smiled at him for a moment, taking the voucher, and helping him fold his clothes up into his backpack.

He winced, noticing it was dark out. A check to the large sign in front of the shopping area told him it was almost twelve. He hummed quietly, thinking back again. They had wanted him to go to the treehouse, and assured there won’t be any living residents. He didn’t have the super gear boy, but he was pretty sure he didn’t need it, with what the being said. 

He made his way over quickly and silently, thanking the fact he had majorly dark clothes on- and Harry’s hair. He waited for a moment, to be sure it was clear, and started climbing up. He got onto the floor easily, and looked around. It was emptier than it had been- Larry seemed to be moving stuff around.

Sal could feel a tingling at the back of his neck, and could hear faint crackling. He chalked it up to the ability reacting similarly to the super gear boy. It was helpful, in any case.

“Hello?” He called out, careful not to speak too loud. “Is anyone here? I was sent to-”

A figure appeared in front of him. A very familiar figure.

“Oh, Shit.”


	2. He had it for a day and a half.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sal can be pretty dense when it comes to more volatile emotions in Adults, and this Mortis guy causually drops in a fortune.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS CHAPTER HAS DESCRIPTIONS OF GORE AND CHILD ABUSE! IF THIS UPSETS YOU, PLEASE DONT READ IT!  
> That being said, I don’t own Sally Face or Harry Potter.

“Oh, shit.”

Sal was confused. After all, Larry wasn’t dead yet. 

So how the absolute fuck is Larry’s ghost here?

“That’s all you have to say dude?” Larry hummed, almost as confused as he was. “Well, if you don’t have something to say, I do. Is it normal to go fuck many years into the past after you die? I look fucking Nine.”

“I- wait, after you die? Like, right after?”

“Uh, yeah?”

Sal blinked. 

“So after you died… you remember none of that?”

“Of fuckin what dude? I’m honestly surprised your taking this so well…”

Sal huffed. “Well I did have three years to get over it- give or take,” Sal looked up. “It can’t be helped anymore…”

“I assume you were the cause of the being’s frustration?” He asked, changing the topic quickly.

“You mean that shadowy dude I saw earlier?” He asked, floating down to the floor- he looked almost tangible, and Sal almost flinched at the odd reminder that Larry, for whatever reason, doesn’t recall any of that night.

“Then probably? I mean- they seemed pretty confused, said something about attaching myself to a person instead of a place- don’t know what he meant by that though. Then there was another me for like a split second, and I was here.”

Sal blinked, and paled quickly. “Larry you fucking idiot”

“What’d I do?”

Sal gave him a pointed look and a general gesture, and Larry quietened.

“Besides the fact of, well, you know” He couldn’t bring himself to actually say it, face scrunching up. “I have a large reason for an assumption. The being said a ghost formation gone wrong kept me here. I know that the ghost in question is you. With what you just said, well… I think instead of your soul like, being bound to where you died, you bound it to me. Or something.”

Larry blinked. “Oh. Oh.”

“I’ll work on an idea about the… other you?” Sal added quietly.

He hummed thoughtfully, and started speaking again.

“Might as well catch you up on what I know. Basically, all that ghost hunting and stuff we did in the apartments helped them a lot, so they felt indebted to me. So i’m living what would have been an ‘important persons’ life, had he not died before his time. His relatives are assholes, and I can change my eye colors and my hair traits. He said there's two categories of ghosts or something? I can interact with both perfectly fi-” 

Sal stopped, and his eyes went wide, and looked back up to Larry, who shifted somewhat in confusion. 

“Hey Larry, hold still for a second, ok?”

Larry blinked. “Uh, sure dude.”

Sal reached up slowly and sorta poked him in the shoulder, rather awkwardly.

Larry froze. “Holy shit. You can- I- you just-”

Sal cut him off with a hug.

Larry eased up, patting Sal on the back, unsure of what exactly to do.

Sal pulled back. “So, what happened with my dad and your mom? I know they dated for like a month, but that’s as far as I know”

“They broke it off,” Larry said, a bit confused on the sudden topic change. “It didn’t really work out. They were both workaholics, ya know? Never had much spare time. They kinda found out we had been dating but broke it off because of them, and they kinda mutually left each other. Were still friends though.”

Sal yawned, looking around.

“So… around what is the time for you to when I arrive?”

“Shit uh, like, maybe a year?”

Sal blinked. “Oh.”

He yawned again.

“Uh, so offence, but do ghosts sleep?” He asked.

“No, we don’t, and none taken.”

“Cool, wake me up when the sun is up?”

Larry blanched. “That early? It’s like, five hours from now.”

Sal shrugged. “Asshole relatives. I think they’re leaving tomorrow back to Britain. You… are coming with… right?”

Larry’s face softened. “Won’t leave you again.”

Sal smiled, and promptly fell back into a bean bag, maneuvering a bit to get comfortable.

“Night.”

“Good night”

\----------

The sun came up far too early for Sal’s tastes, but he and Larry left swiftly as to not be seen. It had taken Larry a few minutes to get used to being out of the treehouse.

Ghosts, Sal learned, can show themselves selectively. The entire walk to the hotel, Larry never left his sight, but no one seemed to be able to see him. It was rather helpful, and would be extremely beneficial in the long run.

They entered the hotel without bother, telling the clerk lady that he lost his key. He got one with no problem, no questions asked, when he noticed his stomach grumbling. 

He turned to a door that just opened. Ugh. Thank fuck for free hotel breakfasts.

Larry stayed quiet so Sal wouldn’t be singled out for talking to thin air, and Sal thanked him silently. 

Piling on a waffle drenched in syrup, he grabbed a seat in a corner. 

Peace couldn’t last however, and the Dursleys, in all their glory, strolled in looking agitated. They immediately zoned in on him finishing the last bits of pancake and milk on his plate.

“Boy, where were you last night!” Vernon rumbled lowley, not wanting to be heard.

Sal almost smirked. Perfect opportunity.

He put on a frown, and spoke in a voice loud enough for the other people in the room to hear, but didn’t seem like he was trying to project. “I remember you quite clearly cussing me out last night, Uncle. I’m glad the things you threw at me didn’t hit. I remember you saying ‘BOY if I see you before tomorrow there will be HELL to pay!’ I believe?” 

A few heads turned towards them.

Vernon spluttered, face gaining an odd purple discoloration. 

“Get up to the room. Now.”

Sal noticed Larry’s somewhat worried expression and shrugged slightly, heading up. Nothing too bad would happen, he was sure- Ignoring the pain still in his back and the fact that Harry had died under their care.

Novice mistake.

It took almost half an hour till Vernon made his way up, noticeably alone and far more agitated than he had been. Maybe someone downstairs had confronted him, or something similar. 

He had barely turned his head when he heard the crack of a belt and pain exploded on his arm and side- a few more seconds and what had been cracks turned wetter as the belt slowly tore his skin open.

He heard Larry shout and try to grab at Vernon, but he passed through helplessly.

Sal screamed, and it made Vernon hit harder, so he quickly stifled it.

Almost three minutes in, and Vernon paused, looking for something in some bag. Sal couldn’t tell, and Larry was too busy trying to pick Sal up and out of there to notice.

A click, and they both paused, looking up.

Vernon was holding a knife that looked like it was suspiciously hot, and had some sort of cord attached.

Larry held Sal’s arm tightly and the lights started to flicker.

A flash, and the knife was sawing chunks of his face off.

Another, and the hot blade was pressed to his cheek, then his eye.

The next, and it was haphazardly tearing through his face.

And finally, the power went out. 

Sal, through the one currently good eye, saw Larry almost flickering, and turn into a large shadowy mass- almost reminiscent to the red eyed demon. He felt the pain ease as Vernon was torn away from him by what was hopefully still Larry. 

Vernon screamed.

The door was kicked down by security.

The room exploded in a mix of shadow and fire.

Sal passed out from blood loss.

—————

“-ce, Sal!”

Sal woke to Larry hovering directly over him in a hospital.

He went to rub at his eyes, to notice most of his face was covered in bandages.

“Wow. I really don’t get a fucking break, do I?” Sal sighed, peering through an open bit of bandage at Larry, deadpan in his voice.

Larry’s tense form relaxed immensely. 

“I guess not.”

He seemed to mess with his hair, upset and as if he had something to say.

“What?” Sal shifted to see better, hitting a butting and turning a TV on.

“In recent news, the Ajurn Hotel was burnt down three days ago after one Vernon Dursley set off a bomb in his room. The only survivor was his nephew Harry Potter. The staff and residents were already suspicious of Vernon after an outburst at breakfast, and the camera feed tells us of screaming coming from his room. They knocked down the door seconds before the bomb went off. The nephew just got out of intensive care yesterday, and is making a fair recovery, but he will have scars for the rest of his life. Up next, two teens find a loophole in the local high school absence policy.”

Sal turned to Larry quickly. “Wait- you blew up the Hotel?”

Larry flinched. “I-I think so? You were… and I just… It’s all blurry, but I remember wanting Vernon to… hurt…”

“You looked like the red eyed demon.”

Larry looked pointedly at the floor, saying nothing.

“Well… at least we don’t have to Britain. Hopefully.” Sal hummed.

Larry sighed. “I’m sorry…”

“Nothing to apologize for- at least you can’t be mad at me for murder now.”

“Wait, what? Murder? Sal what the fuck does that mean?”

“Nothing. Nothing at all.”

There was an awkward break in their conversation, and Larry took the moment to fuss over the fluid bags as he saw the doctors do. His hands changed from muted transparency to solid looking unconsciously.

The door slid open, and his hands went dull immediately, and slid through the bag.

A nurse with pale blonde hair and a plastic looking smile stood in the doorway, turning to wave some papers at someone in the hall, and then entering the room. 

“Harry Potter? The monitors said you had woken up,” she turned to the tv, still running. “I see you’ve seen the news.”

“Yes…”

“You can call me Sherry.”

“Miss Sherry. My face-” Sal tugged on the sheets as the rest of the sentence was muttered to incomprehensibility. 

The nurse’s fake smile lessened. “You’ll have scars- the doctors recommended a prosthetic. They didn’t look like explosion wounds but with speculation…”

“I don’t have to answer that.”

“Of course.”

The door opened a second time, and a much more professional doctor stood there, waving the nurse off. She left hurriedly, leaving the two of them alone. Three, after Sal noticed the Doctor could see Larry.

“Ah. I didn’t quite expect this to happen first thing. I suppose I should have given you more information.”

Oh.

It was the being from before, now far more human looking- straight waist length black hair and pale grey, almost white eyes.

“Well I suppose a day with a face was nice. What should I call you, anyway?” Sal muttered.

The being hummed. “Mortis, if you’d like. And while I do appreciate your dry humor, I think we have things to talk about.” 

They turned to Larry.

“Terribly sorry about dropping you here without explanation, It was rather rude of me.”

“You could say that.”

“Sal, to clear things up, your timeline had an accidental split when Larry died- I blame a few roughhousing reapers in the hall of strings.”

Both Sal and Larry were silent.

“This caused two Larry’s to die, technically. They were sent to me. One got sent back and one was sent, well, here. I couldn’t control which went where, so the one bonded to the treehouse went one way and the one bonded to you went another. So when you, Sal, died, you had already gained my favor. Without it, you would have been stuck in between the two timelines. I was able to gain the leeway to send you here instead. A bit of a crackpot explanation, but I don’t have too much time to really go into it. Any questions so far?”

Sal spoke up quickly. 

“What allows you to pick and choose?”

The being hummed quietly. 

“Well, as death-” no real surprise there, “I can assign favor to people who fix my fuck ups. Depending on the amount, and how much I actually like them, I can have the ability to pull them, contact them, visit them, and a lot more. You’re very lucky Sal, the Veil is not a nice place to be in.”

“Veil?”

“The space between the strings that are timelines- it is a timeless place with wandering souls and vicious beasts. Only myself and those I favor can come and go from it- not even reapers have the ability.”

“Oh.”

Mortis turned to Sal again.

“I have more empty time right now, so I can tell you about the character you play.”

Sal sat up straighter.

“Harry Potter. Ten years old. Actually- he’ll be eleven in around a month. Heir to an old magical family- I believe I mentioned magic?”

He didn’t wait for Sal’s reply to continue.

“Humans in this timeline are separated into two groups; magic users and non-magic folk. I say that’s absolute bull though, there’s three types. Those two and psychics. I won’t rant though. Harry Potter, and his family, were magic users.”

Mortis stopped, blinking a moment.

“Actually, Sal, technically you’re pretty rich right now.”

A wave of their hand and a golden key formed, and a thin, black wallet next to it.

“Tap the key to the wallet while thinking about the amount you need and what currency you need it in. It will appear. Don’t worry about how much you spend. Unless you plan on buying the entirety of Russia six times over, land, businesses, and properties in all, you have nothing to worry about.”

Sal blinked, turning to Larry, and back to Mortis.

“Well shit.” Larry mumble, causing Sal to snicker.

“Don’t worry about being thrown into the adoption cycle, I discreetly ‘adopted’ you, more or less. Under Mortis Prevell. It was rather easy. Uh, do whatever the fuck y'all want to, really. You’ll get a letter by owl later in the summer, ask for someone no nonsense to be sent to you, otherwise you’ll run into a problem. Around here, look like Harry- anywhere else, look however you want. Anything else?”

Sal shook his head numbly.

“Well, call me if you need me- just say Mortis and mean it. Toodles~”

They disappeared in a puff of black smoke, leaving a confused and slightly disoriented Sal and Larry.

“So.” Sal started.

“That just happened.”

Larry could only nodd.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was wild to write. I’m slowly working up chapter lengths- this whole fic is slowly turning into writing exercises. Eh, that just means I’ll work on it often.
> 
> I really should update my other fics...
> 
> R&R?


	3. Snipe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Snape is definitely an asshat, and shit was that Travis?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Sally Face or Harry Potter!!

It always leads back to Addison Apartments, doesn’t it?

A few days after Sal woke up in the hospital, he was discharged.

He brought his hand up to tap on the hard plastic of his new prosthetic. He had gone simple, white. He added a small symbol under the eye that was missing though, at Mortis’ insistence. An odd black symbol, a triangle encompassing a circle, with a line splitting it. He didn’t know what it meant, but he went with it.

He couldn’t very well wear the old one, this timeline’s Sal would show up next summer if It went like his own timeline. 

Back with Addison Apartments, Mortis had rented a room that needed serious renovation for them. It wasn’t much of a problem with his magic, but it was rather odd. He never noticed an extra apartment on the roof, but he supposed timelines would have some differences.

The first time they had walked in, it smelt of rot- both wood and animal. There were a few odd objects lying around, but nothing suspicious or noteworthy. That cat had died a completely normal death, Mortis had insisted. It was kind of endearing to have a ghost cat running around though. A bit more active than Gizmo, but just as human like, it the postcard collection was anything to go by.

They had gone over colors and design as a group. With full permission to do whatever they wanted to it short of tearing it down, they had options.

For one, Mortis had popped in and insisted on light-blocking curtains. 

They ended up having a light grey paint for the walls, white for the ceiling, and one accent wall per room. Sal’s bedroom was a light blue, Larry’s a maroon color, and the living room was a bottle green. The bathroom and kitchen didn’t have accent walls. The furnishings were generally dark schemed and matched similarly with the wall colorations.

All things considered, it turned out to be a nice place. Especially since it took under a minute to fix up once they all agreed.

Agreeing to wait a week before telling Mr Addison they had finished, they settled in to watch some show or other, Mortis leaving a bit in to take care of something or other.

They didn’t go around to meet the other tenants.

—————

Late July Sal woke to furious tapping on his window.

He shifted, sitting up from his bed quietly, and turnt to the offending noise.

An owl.

A fucking owl, and what looked like a thick envelope.

Mortis had mentioned something like this, right? Sal hadn’t seen them in a good while- since they moved in, really.

He slid out of bed and stretched, making his way to the window and let the bird in. 

How did this owl even make it? They came from Britain, right?

Sal hummed, and unlatched the envelope, marveling at the nice parchment of it. The owl made an odd un-owl like noise, and hopped to one of the bed posts to promptly go to sleep. Must have been a long flight then.

Sal’s eyes skimmed the first piece of paper that he pulled out.

“To Mr H. Potter  
Addison Apartments, Room 601  
First bedroom on the right.”

That wasn’t creepy at all.

“Congratulations, you have been accepted to the prestigious Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Start of term is September first, and you will be expected to arrive by the Hogwarts Express on August thirty first. The packet included will list all your school supplies needed, and we recommend going to the nearest Wizarding Shopping Center as soon as possible. 

We await your owl.

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore”

Right.

Wizard school.

He thumbed through the list, growing more and more confused- how was he supposed to get all of this? 

He remembered Mortis mentioning he should ask for a guide of some sort, and hastily pulled out a pen and paper, scribbling a note asking for such- mentioning he’d need easy transportation between America and England as well.

The owl woke up almost immediately after he finished writing and folding the paper. A quick twist tie and the owl was off again.

Now, he just had to wait.

Sal stretched again, popping his back, and got dressed quickly.

He had gone shopping again, for clothes, food, and other necessities. He had taken a liking to a black/grey striped sweater, but otherwise they were generally similar, plain looking clothes. He had on a nicer black skirt though, which twirled easily.

Humming again, he slipped his prosthetic on loosely, and got started on breakfast. Eggs and bacon, simple and quick. Just as he finished eating, barley half an hour later, there was a knock on the door.

He pulled his mask on a bit more securely, and opened the door.

“Hello, I’m here for- why are you wearing a mask?”

Aman in a well fitting black suit stood at the door, hair looking either just out of the shower, or greasy as fuck. hee looked down at the skirt with a sneer as well, but didn’t say anything. 

Ugh, he really didn’t want to deal with stuff like that right now, so he ignored the look.

“It’s a prosthetic.”

The man looked surprised. “Oh.”

Sal stepped out of the way. “You can come in.”

“Thank you.”

Sal nodded, gesturing to the couch. He himself sat on the coffee table, criss cross on top. His prosthetic, luckily, hid his slight smirk at the man’s expression.

He quickly composed himself, sitting down. 

“As I assume you know, I am here on behalf of Hogwarts. I am here to explain things to you a bit more, and take you shopping when you are ready.”

Sal nodded, and subtly pet the ghost cat that had jumped onto his leg- they had named her Lup, after a character from a podcast they used to listen to.

He was almost startled when the cat became visible- or tangible in his perception.

“Ah, Mr. Potter… is that a ghost?”

Sal nodded. “Yeah, we think she died here before we moved in? Lup is pretty sweet though. We haven’t had many problems with the other ghosts in the apartments.” A lie in the future- or technical past, but he didn’t need to know that.

He seemed to be startled. “There are more?”

“Yeah. They don’t really talk to or mess with anyone though- besides me but I think it’s because I can see them when they turn their visibility off.”

He sighed and shook his head. “That’s a topic I don’t think we need to get into right now.”

Sal nodded. “So, how’d you get here so quickly?”

The man, he still didn’t have his name yet, straightened. “A method of transportation called apperating. Using magic to go from place to place- don’t attempt it without a certification though, it can be extremely dangerous if botched.”

He blinked. “You mean that thing that ghosts do? I think they call it the blinking net though…”

“Similar, but only ghosts can use it- and that’s more comparable to the floo anyway.”

At that statement, sal frowned. “Only ghosts?” That couldn’t be right, he had used it just fine multiple times. Technically though, he had been dead for a bit. Maybe that’s how he could do it. Or maybe it’s the favor placed on him. Probably the latter, now that he thought of it.

The man, not noticing his confusion- due to the prosthetic mainly, nodded his head. 

“What’s your name, anyway? I never got it.”

“Oh dear, I’m Professor Snape, I will be your potions teacher.”

“Oh. That’s nice.”

A bump came from the other room, along with a loud string of expletives.

Sal snickered, “looks like Larry’s up. And he said ghosts don’t sleep.”

Larry floated in, flickering visible and invisible to anyone but sal in his sleepy haze.

“Hey Sal where the fuck are the… whos that?”

Sal looked towards Snape, whose mouth was hanging a right open, till he noticed his stare.

“You… live with a ghost?”

“Ghosts,” Sal corrected, holding up the still visible Lup.

Snape sighed, rubbing his temple. “Right… is there a guardian I can speak to?”

Sal shook his head. “No, Mortis is out right now. They can get busy sometimes, but we’ve proven ourselves responsible.”

Snape shifted. “Well, when will he be back?”

Sal frowned. “They, not he. And they won’t be back for almost a month- till near the end of august- gave me the go ahead to go shopping for school though, we know about magic, somewhat.”

Snape’s face went tight. “Let him know when he gets back, then. And don’t play silly games like that, Potter. Mortis is clearly a guys name, so that is what I should call him.”

So he’s one of those people. Ugh. Right. Mortis had said these people were still stuck in the dark ages pretty much. God, he was so buying the whole stock of skirts when he went shopping.

Larry turned to hide an almost sneer, and vanished from his view, only ending up transparent and dulled to Sal.

“I hate people like that.” He said quietly, leaving to do something in the kitchen.

Sal nodded discreetly.

“Right, well, are you about ready to go shopping? I’ll need you to change out of the… skirt first.”

“I’m ready, but no.”

Snape looked taken aback. “Excuse me?”

“You are not my guardian, you cannot tell me what or what not to wear unless I am in school, and it has an enforced dress code.”

Snape clenched his teeth. “Very well. Grab ahold of my arm.”

Sal gave a look towards a returning Larry, and while invisible, took ahold of Sal’s sweater. Sal took Snape’s cuff, and a second later, they were in a bustling ally.

Snape took startled note of how apparition didn’t affect Harry in the slightest. 

“Trunk first, then clothing?” Sal asked, pulling out his list.

Snape looked down in disain. “Gringotts first, you need to gather some money.”

Sal shook his head, pulling out his wallet. “No, money is fine. I need some business at Gringotts that will take a while, so it goes last.”

Snape blinked, and then frowned.

“Very well. Lead the way, Potter.”

The trunk store, it happens, was quite uneventful- if fulfilling. Just a basic, one compartment school trunk. While snape was distracted, he did buy a room-in-a-bag which had a quidditch pitch sized room inside it, and interior summoning charms woven in though.

They were quick to leave, arriving at Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions.

He stood on a stool next to another boy, familiar with blonde hair and-

What?

His vision tunneled, and he noticed the other boy stumble off the stool the same time he did- and the fact that Larry was practically glitching out didn’t help.

A moment, and the feeling was gone- the store oddly empty suddenly.

Snape was outside waiting, and he assumed the workers were in the back.

It didn’t matter much though, because he knew the person opposite of the ground to him.

“Travis?”-”Sally face?”

Sal blinked. “Oh my god.”

Travis winced, glancing at the should-be-invisible Larry.

“I-I’ve gotta go- I’ll see you on the- the train?”

Travis ran out of the store.

The two were quiet till a worker came out.

“That Malfoy, he was never really like his father- maybe when he was younger, but now he’s all skittish. It’s raised a few inquiries, but…”

She turned to him. “Sorry dear, you needed fitting?”

Sal nodded, and she started fitting him. 

He noticed she was measuring for skirt sizes- she thought he was a girl. He could work with that.

“Can I get some pants too? For when it gets colder out.” He mumbled, putting on a shy facade.

The lady smiled at him. “Of course dearie, my daughter used to wear them a lot when it got colder, It’s nothing to be shy about.”

Sal smirked, still hidden by the prosthetic. “Thank you.”

 

“It’s no problem.”

The lady finished up, and he was told to pick them up in a few hours- he had ordered a full set. Robes, sweaters, sweater vests, button downs, cloaks, pants, skirts, and socks. He had perfectly fine converse, and he could buy a few packs of Muggle variety of things. He’d pack his normal wear as well.

He pulled hair ties from his wrists and pulled his hair up- unable to do it often in Nockfell. He should have done it earlier to be honest, but he had been preoccupied. He shifted the color to its original sky blue as well, making sure Severus saw. His eyes changed as well, but they were mostly shadowed by his prosthetic.

He walked out quickly, hoping to see the blonde for some reason. 

Larry had been rather quiet after the meeting, even at Sals discreet pestering.

“You are a metamorphmagus?” he heard Severus query, with an almost shock in his voice.

“Yeah. Only hair and eyes though.”

“Hmm.”

Severus led him to the apothecary and sorted through what he did and didn’t need, putting in his recommendations in as well, to Sal’s amusement. Sal took the time to look around the somewhat shady shop, positioned near the entrance to a shady-looking side ally. Odd organs and teeth floated in jars here and there, a few heads and feet from some animals. 

He looked through some teeth and bone made jewelry when he found an odd necklace, made of what looked like snake teeth adorned with rubies. It was wrapped with two pairs of ruby, stud-style earrings.

He bought them, of course.

Forcing the ear rings through his unpierced ears wasn't the most pleasant, but the rubies seemed to suck up any blood that spilled, which, in this situation, was handy. The person said blood keyed the charms on them to yourself, but he didn't mention what those charms were.

He noticed his ears healing properly within a minute though, which was odd.

He followed snaps to the bookstore next, picking up school texts, and skimming the shelves for a few others- picking up Ghosting: A Guide to Ghosts, to see what these people thought of them.

Once that was dealt with, Gringotts was left. He’d take Lup as his allotted pet.

The bank was white marble, and impeccably clean- but not creepily so. The goblins, who apparently ran the bank, all looked up as he entered, though they didn't see Larry, thankfully. 

Sal noticed the symbol on his prosthetic gathered the most attention.

A goblin walked up to them and, to Snape’s surprise, spoke respectfully and almost hurriedly.

“We haven't a favored walk into this bank in over a thousand years. Prevell allotted?” The goblin spoke.

Sal nodded carefully.

“Why?” Severus sneered.

The goblin looked to him. “Private matters. You may leave.”

Snape took a last sneer, and walked out quickly.

“Um, how am I supposed to get back to America?” Sal asked.

“You can use the blinking net, yes?”

“You know about that?”

The goblin nodded.

“Yes then. Nevermind.” Sal muttered, and followed the goblin through a few hallways.

They entered a large, dome like room that was carved out of the earth, and Sal could see veins of precious minerals going through the walls. Seating was set up similar to an amphitheater, him center stage. 

The goblin ran up to the stands, and a hush fell over previously murmuring goblins. They seemed to be waiting.

After a minute of silence, it was clear that they weren’t going to speak first.

Sal cleared his throat.

“Um… Mortis told me to ask about the Prevell vaults?”

A goblin stood up, and walked towards him. 

“Favored, I am the Prevell account manager. How may I assist you?”

A smirk drew up on Sal’s face, hidden by the mask.

“I need to claim a few things.”

\----------

Severus never once realized that he hadn’t taken Potter to get a wand.

Albus took a full day to notice the elder wand and invisibility cloak were missing.

A wave of Mortis’ hand, and the items were unrecognizable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hhhhjsjsjks I don't have excuses.


	4. Trains...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trains and Travis seem to go well?

“You’d think yelling about the platform would be Illegal, right?”

Larry had been discreetly floating around platforms nine and ten, trying to figure out where ‘platform nine and three quarters’ was. They hadn’t gotten much progress on the subject, and Mortis was too amused to tell them anything. 

Of course, the mob of red headed magicals yelling about the platform got their attention easily. With all the laws the goblins told him about this sort of thing, Sal was honestly surprised they hadn’t all been arrested yet- especially if they did this every year.

The waited a few minutes, which turned to ten. Odd really, and Sal was getting bored. He pushed back his down, currently blue hair, and walked past then, giving them a subtle ‘lower your volume’ gesture as he past.

This caused one read head, the youngest boy, to shout a rather rude string of words to him- promptly getting hit in the head by two twins.

“Ron, I thought you had better manners.”

“Yeah, didn’t dear mum ever tell you to not cuss out strangers?”

Sal chuckled mutley, and passed through the barrier as he saw one of the older redheads do. An odd feeling, as if he had walked through a room-temperature shower, encompassed him for a moment, and he walked out onto a busy platform. A scarlet train gave a whistle, warning that it would be leaving soon.

Mortis hummed, shimmering into public view.

“Oh, Harry” They sighed.

Sal snorted at the use of the name.

“I’m going to miss you. And Lup. And Larry.”

Larry gave Mortis an off look. “We’ve spent a total of maybe eight hours together over this past three months. You can’t miss us that much.” He deadpanned, causing Sal to snicker a bit.

Mortis turned away, feigning a hurt persona.

“You wound me, you really do. Remember, you can call me whenever you need to.”

With that, they vanished, leaving Sal to wave away the plume of smoke they left in their wake.

“Well. Train then?”

Sal nodded. 

“I’m going to try and find Travis.” He decided, climbing on the back of the engine to look through the compartments efficiently.

Larry made a face. “Right. Him. Why would you even want to find him?” He grumbled.

“He seemed… off. Different I guess? I want to find out why. And he may not have been your friend, but he was almost mine.” Sal said confidently, brushing his hair out of his vision and changing it black. 

Larry sagged. “Fiiiineeee.”

Sal smirked triumphantly and started walking through the cabins, peering through the windows to see if he could find the boy.

Three cabins in, they found him on the floor in the hall, being accosted by that red head kid.

“They shouldn’t even let death eater scum like you into Hogwarts.” He hissed, giving a final kick, and ran to the next compartment.

Travis groaned, sitting up, and rubbed at his right eye- Sal could see a bit of blood, and a dark bruise forming.

“Travis?”

He froze and turned to Sal quickly.

“The fuck was that?” Sal added.

Travis stood, and adjusted his shirt absentmindedly. 

“I- Nothing.” He shifted, and opened the compartment nearest to him- his, assumedly, and stepped in. “You can stay or go. I don’t really care.

Sal shrugged, glancing at Larry, and made to walk in.

Larry looked at Travis for a moment, and turned to the window in attempt to ignore him.

Sal sat down, frowning slightly- ever hidden by the prosthetic. “Don’t worry about him, alright?”

Travis nodded.

There was a beat.

“So,” Sal started, “what’s your… name name here- unless you want me to keep calling you Travis.”

“Draco Malfoy. You?”

“Harry Potter.”

The color drained from Travis’ face, leaving the bruise more prominent.

Sal shifted. “What?”

Travis coughed. “Uh, well… you’re kinda famous? It’s hard to explain…”

“Ah, great. Well, don’t try- I’ll find out eventually. What’s your… uh… time placement?”

Travis turned his head a bit. “My what?”

“You know…” Sal made a gesture with his hands. “Like, how long have you been here, and uh, when did you come here?”

“Oh. I’ve been here since I- Draco, was five. Got put under a crucio for too long, it killed him. I was- fuck uh… a few years after you were… executed…. I got- I died.”

Larry turned to Sal quickly. “Executed? Sal what the fuck?”

“You don’t-” Travis turned to Sal, “he doesn’t know you-”

Sal jumped out of his seat and stifled him with his sleeve.

“I came here right after I died.” Larry spoke slowly.

Travis seemed distressed, and he wrenched Sal’s hand from his face. “Wh- but the story that Sal told was true- Ash had evidence- what the fuck?” 

“A double? Blame Mortis.” 

“Who?”

“Death, technically.”

“Oh.”

A moment of awkward silence drifted in, till Larry spoke up.

“So. How are you dealing with, uh, witchcraft and stuff?”

 

Travis grimnanced. 

“Draco’s family aren’t the… nicest of wizards. Nothing I wasn’t used to, but magic can do, uh, more for less. You know?”

Sal and Larry both caught the ‘nothing he wasn’t used to’ but kept quiet.

“Um, they’re kinda pureblood supremacy advocators- I guess like I used to be but worse. Hate everything muggle. I couldn’t really… do anything religious. You know? I did It anyways- still do, and uh…” He trailed off.

Larry shifted. “That’s why you’re so… passive?”

Travis nodded slowly. “Crucio twice a week, at least… does that…”

“Your staying with us this summer. No buts.” Sal decided with authority.

“Hope you don’t mind couchsurfing.” Larry added after a moment.

“You aren’t going back. Also, what’s Crucio?”

Travis winced. “I- well, It’s a… torture spell. An unforgivable- it’s… far more than unpleasant…”

The three sat in silence again, this time interrupted by a semi-transparent cat popping out of Sal’s bag.

Larry blinked. “Is that a…”

Sal smirked. “Ghost cat? Yep. We named her Lup.”

“After TAZ?”

Larry choked. 

“You- you know what that is? Mr. witchcraft and gay is a sin?”

Travis turned red with embarrassment. ‘I got into it a few years after high school… by that time I had come to terms with myself… and, uh, stuff…”

Larry shifted, confused, but Sal just nodded.

Travis coughed. “So- what house do you think you’ll get put in?”

Sal tapped on his prosthetic for a moment. “From what the Goblins said, I assume I’ll be going to Slytherin- that or Gryffindor. I think both would work, but the former fits better. You?”

“Hm. Well, it’s an expectation for me to go to Slytherin, but I doubt that will be my house. I was never very ambitious…” Travis muttered quickly, making it almost hard to follow.

A knock at the door drug them from their conversation, and opened to reveal a bossy looking, bushy haired girl and much more withdrawn boy. They thanked the fact that Larry, technically, was invisible to anyone but themselves currently.

“Have either of you seen a Toad? Nevill’s lost his. Its name is- oh my, are you bleeding?”

Travis blinked. “Um- yes?”

The girl sniffed, and looked at his forming black eye, assuming the worst of him. “Well, you shouldn’t be starting fights then.”

Sal glared and stood quickly- Larry followed, a bit conflicted, but the girl couldn’t see him anyway. “Excuse me? That red headed asshat decided to beat him up! It isnt his fault!”

“You mean Ron?” she asked. “He must have been that ‘slimy snake’ he was talking about. If he’s even half as bad as what Ron said, he deserves it.”

Sal honest to god started growling at that, or a similar equivalent. 

“So you believe a bigoted fuck over the person who witnessed the assault?”

The girl flinched. “Well, I-” She huffed, straightening her robes. “Well how do I know you’re not the liar? That mask sure doesn’t help your case.”

Sal sneered. “It’s a prosthetic, asshole.”

The girls eyes went wide. “I-”

“Get out. Now.”

Sal slammed the door shut, almost catching her hands, and finally noticed the toad in the corner of the cart.

“Oh. I guess the toad was in here.” Travis muttered, picking it up gently. “I’m going to take it to that other kid, he didn’t actually do anything.”

Sal and Larry watched him leave, and turned to each other.

“I guess you were right…” Larry started. “He’s, well, a lot different.”

“Will you give him a chance at least?” Sal sighed.

“I- yeah. I’ll try.”

Sal smiled. “Thank you.”

Travis eased away from the door, humming. He could try as well. He looked up to see the two about to leave the cabin.

“Hey- uh, your toad was in our compartment!” He called, running up to them.

He was just to them when the door slid open and the read head walked in.

“Its you. What are you doing with them, I thought what I did was enough of a deterrent.” The redhead, Ron, hissed.

Travis winced, and didn’t say anything, turning to the boy who had lost the toad.

“Um, Nevill was it? I found your toad…”

He practically shoved it into his hands and rushed back to his compartment quickly.

The girl gasped and turned to Ron. “Wait, you did something to him- to what, deter him?”

“He’s a death eater, it’s what they get.”

Nevill frowned. “He had a t-shirt on, Ron. First off, muggle as it can get. Second, his forearms were on complete display. And it’s almost common knowledge he doesn't have a good relationship with Lord Malfoy.”

Ron sneered, but didn’t add anything else. The girl had a frown on her face as they walked back to their compartment.

The rest of the train ride went smoothly, for the most part. The food trolly came by, and since Travis wasn’t given pocket money, Sal bought them a few things to share. Larry was able to eat things ‘offered’ so he pointed a few things out, and that was dealt with easily- Lup got a snack pre packed by Sal. The two ghosts didn’t need it, but it was a nice treat all the same. When they got nearer, Sal left so they could change into their robes.

All too soon, the train rolled to a stop.

Sal helped pull Travis up, his bruises only hurting more as the ride progressed.

Leaving the trunks on the train -bag on his shoulder- the trio stepped off the train and into the mass of other students. Sal took hold of Travis’s collar to keep him off the shoves of the other children and made their way to the boats a large man was directing them towards. 

He was so, completely dragging Travis to the nurse’s office when they finished whatever entrance shabang Hogwarts was doing- even if they weren’t in the same house.

Stepping onto the boat and ignoring Travis’s trepidation- and Larry’s amusement of it, Sal considered the topic of houses. It was unlikely that they would end up in the same house- and he didn’t have to worry about Larry. He’d just follow him.

A momentary rocking of the boat as it was shoved off the landing drug him out of his musings, and as they turned a corner, the school was brought into view.

He heard Larry’s gasp and noticed Travis’s slight smirk, and turned to the school itself- and immediately amended that thought.

Either the school was next to it, or the school was a giant fucking castle.

Tall spires rose from a stone base, with dozens of balconies and windows. He could see a fence- borderline wall in the distance, where there were fields instead of trees, and lights in the distance indicating some sort of settlement.

It was, well, enchanting.

A hit of rock and they were stepping off the boats- time had been forgotten almost completely.

They were led into a chamber that Sal assumed to be just off the Great Hall.

“Not what you expected?” Travis muttered questioningly, almost inaudible to the chatter of those around them- and the echo around them.

Larry answered with a string of unconnected words of awe, leaving Sal to nod quietly.

They heard a few voices, different to the students, and a handful of ghosts passed through the walls.

Magical ghosts.

This would be the first time Sal saw them- and to put it lightly, he was unimpressed.

They were black and white, devoid of all color. Uncomparable to muggle ghost’s simple dulled colors. They seemed to emit a slight chill- by far more bearable than the almost freezing air that some muggle ghosts have. 

Judging by their clothes, they were old ghosts though, so Sal would give them that.

He noticed their glance to the student body, and their prominent almost glare at Larry- they could definitely see him.

He could hear them mutter and leave quickly.

Odd.

Someone came out of the doorway and into the chamber, holding an air of strictness that quietened the students without a word.

“You all will follow me into the great hall for your sorting.” She said, opening the giant doors, and walking through with a strict stance.

Sal and Travis walked along the edge of the sea of children, still pushed along. Larry ever-so-helpfully floated above them.

Over the roar of chatter around them, Sal couldn’t hear much of what the teachers said, but the sudden quieting must have meant something. When names were called and students went up and had a hat, of all things, place them in a house, he knew he missed something.

“Malfoy, Draco.”

 

He recognised the name Travis had given him, and paid close attention along with a thumbs-up of encouragement. 

Travis sat on the stool for almost two minutes, looking conflicted the entire time, when the hat finally made a decision.

“HUFFLEPUFF!”

Sal could see the almost relieved half smile that Travis had when he glanced at Sal, and quickly made his way to the black and yellow table.

He turned the other names out, waiting for his own. 

“Potter, Harry.”

Any leftover chatter in the room froze, and all eyes turned to Sal as he walked up. 

He rolled his eyes at Larry’s incessant cackling as he sat down on the stool expectantly.

“We don’t allow masks here, Mr. Potter,” came McGonagall’s sharp voice, and Sal sighed.

“It’s a prosthetic, ma’am,” he started, “Professor Snape should have informed you after he took me shopping- did he not?” He smirked at Snape’s sudden shock. Serves him right.

McGonagall flinched minutely. “If that is the case, never mind then…” she trailed off, and put the hat on him quickly.

He felt a jolt of electricity, and suddenly, there was a voice in his head.

“Ouch! Who even has an electric fence as an occlumency barrier?!”

Sal blinked, and whispered lowly. “What?”

“I can’t get past your occlumency barriers. Lower them please.” He assumed the hat said this.

“How about no? I don’t like people going through my head.” 

The hat sighed. “Very well, we have a few of your type every year. What house do you want?”

He shifted, “you’re letting me pick?”

“Yes,” it began, “I cannot force someone to let me sort them- and with your defenses…”

The hat trailed off, and Sal thought in silence for a moment. It didn’t take long to decide though- he had been trying to befriend Travis since highschool, -fuck any timelines that said otherwise- and he had made progress on the train ride.

Besides, one abusive father was enough for that boy, never mind two.

Mind made up, he whispered his choice, and the hat parroted in a much louder voice, “HUFFELPUFF!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heeyyy, I’m back! Sorry about the wait ^^’   
> Also, I know Travis is way ooc, but that’s going to be gone through in-depth at a later time. ^^ I hope you liked this chapter, R&R?


	5. Hogwarts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting settled at Hogwarts and why the fuck does the headmaster have a throne??

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yoo, sorry this update is months in the making. Summer hit and I didn't have that slot of time to write, so I just... didn't. I hope you like this chapter though!

Sal smirked under his prosthetic and set the hat down quickly, almost skipping down to the table. 

He didn’t, of course, but it was close.

Sal took a seat by Travis, frowning at the fact that the seats had been emptied for a few spots from him. The table had students dotting every few feet of bench just before Travis had been called. 

He frowned, shaking his head, and turned to the boy in question.

“So. Talk to anyone yet?” Sals voice deadpanned loudly, and he saw the ring of hufflepuffs wince. Good.

Sal took a double take when someone at the far end of the table, not in the general first year group, stood up and made their way over. “Seriously, kids, y’all are what, five? What’s the separation for?”

The fuck did he just call them? He couldn’t be more than a third year. Uncalled for. At least he was talking to the other students about their behavior.

It seemed the message got through as he walked away, because the seats around the filled up, though no one sat next to Travis. They said there was an unusual cold spot. 

The chuckling Larry who kept dipping his hand into peoples faces seemed to agree.

A particularly ‘brave’ peer started up conversation, turning to Travis.

“So, Malfoy… I thought you’d be Slytherin. Disappointed?”

Travis frowned, cutting up a few carrots. “No. I think Hufflepuff is going to be good for me. Father only has connections in Ravenclaw and Slytherin, but Gryffindor would eat me alive for being his kid.”

The person had the gall to be taken aback, and turned to Sal swiftly.

“Harry-” Sal noticed the last name first name difference the kid used, “Why are you wearing that on your face, anyway? I heard you say something about a prosthetic but it’s not like you need one.”

Sal bit the inside of their cheek, and Larry almost flickered visible.

This. KID.

Sal wouldn’t mind adding onto his hit list if it was this kid.

“Right. My horribly burned and mutilated face doesn’t need a prosthetic. What a correct assumption. Let me parade around the halls traumatizing children because my face flesh, covered inch to inch in scar tissue, doesn’t need a prosthetic.”

The kid flinched, and Sal made a hum of annoyance. “Trav, I need to ask about where the fuck they want me to eat. I’m not going to take my mask off in front of all this.”

He gestured vaguely to the mess hall around them.

“Sure, I’ll grab a few things for later just in case?” 

“Thanks.” Sal went to get up, but a different kid spoke up. 

“Trav? How does that come off of ‘Draco Malfoy’?”

Sal sighed, scratching at the base of their neck in annoyance. “Childhood nicknames. We met after he got lost in Muggle London. We kept in touch, and met a lot. We had used fake names for… reasons in our letters, and they stuck.”

“Oh.” The kid sat back down.

Now uninterrupted, Sal got up and headed to the teachers table. Travis was discretely shoveling a few different foods into tupperwhere from… somewhere? It seemed like he pulled it from the robe sleeves which was… concerning now that Sal thought about it.

He didn’t know who was in charge, but assumed it was the old man in the tacky-ass gold throne.

Seriously. A throne? In a school? 

God, wizards are so weird.

He knocked on the wood table to get his attention. 

“What is it, my boy?” 

Oh God, that was weird. Yeah, no. Gross. Not gonna talk to this guy. Homerooms have teachers, maybe houses do?

Sal twitched, and avoided eye contact. “Yeah, um, is there someone in charge of Hufflepuff? Or someone's?”

The old man, head master, leaned back. “Yes. One Professor Sprout is in charge. He’s over by the end. Green and brown robes.”

A short, goblin looking man nudged the headmaster, shaking his head disappointedly. “She’s down there. We’ve corrected you multiple times now.”

The headmaster’s eyes face hardened just slightly, and turned to Sal. “Go along then young Harry.”

Sal flinched. Ok, he hated two people in the staff now. Snape, and the headmaster. He’d have to visit this short guy though, maybe give them a bread basket. Baked goods were the best way to show appreciation.

He’d have to find out where the kitchen was though, or convince Mortis that he absolutely needed a toaster oven.

Yeah, he needed to find out where the kitchens were.

He followed the Headmasters instructions and went down to the near end, where he assumed professor Sprout was talking animatedly to a witch in distinctly space-themed everything. Sprout, noticing him walk up, turned to him welcomingly. “Did you need something dear?”

Sal nodded with a roll of his hands. “I was wondering If I could eat somewhere separate from all of this?” He waved at the hall and then tapped the prosthetic lightly, “I'm not too fond of… people seeing, uh, you know..”

The witch nodded, “Of course dear, the kitchens are always open, and hufflepuff dorms are right by it. Feel free to bring food up to your room as well, there’s no rules against it. Just make sure to not leave a mess.” 

She pulled out a folded piece of paper, and handed it to him.

“This has a list of what you can ask the house elves to make, if something isn’t on there, feel free to make it yourself, there’s a map to the kitchen’s on the back. The rest of the first years will be shown where the kitchens are before the dorms, feel free to slip back into the mass before we finish the small tour.”

Sal looked down at the paper and back up to her, radiating relief. “Thank you, ma’am.”

He hurried back down to the table to get Travis, not quite seeing Professor Sprouts smile.

Larry looked up from snickering at Travis’s lack of popularity among the puff’s and barked a short laugh at Sals practically glowing form- and the fact that his hair had faded back into the light blue.

Sal just rolled his eyes and turned to Travis, “I got instructions to the Kitchen, c’mon.”

Travis shot up almost too quickly, and the two left the Great Hall. Following the map was pretty easy, though they gave a start when they saw it change, only highlighting where they were and the path to get to the kitchen.

They slipped into the kitchen, and saw a few short, odd looking creatures ambling about. Probably the house elves that Professor Sprout mentioned. 

A few of them looked up, but kept to their work when Travis pulled out the tupperware. 

“Might as well eat this instead of asking for something to be made?” He said quietly, handing one over to Sal. It had mashed potatoes, chicken, and a few other things- basically what he would have grabbed if he were to eat out there. 

“Impeccable choices, my good bro.” 

He unsnapped the back of his prosthetic, but was hesitant to take it off. 

Travis looked up, only now noticing Larry wasn’t with them, and frowned. “I can- I can leave, you know.”

Sal shook his head. “No, I- I don’t want to do that to you.” He held the plastic to his face still. “I’ll just…” Sal jumped up to sit on the counter, and angled himself away from Travis. The prosthetic was set carefully beside him, and his hair was just a bit thicker than before.

At the angle he was at, with Travis at the small breakfast table behind him, nothing of his face could be seen. “Yeah…”

Travis hummed a response, and began eating from his own tupperware. 

They ate in an awkward silence, until voices were heard in the hall. Sal clipped his prosthetic on just before the door opened, and he and Travis slipped into the crowd unnoticed.

Professor Sprout’s voice could be heard above the chitter of students. “And this is the Kitchens, feel free to grab a snack or make something. Just clean up when you’re done. If you need help, I recommend bringing an older student with you.”

Sal elbowed Travis grinning, not that he could see it. “That was easy, huh?”

“I- yeah” Travis scratched the back of his head, turning to face away. “It was.”

The two followed the rest of the puffs to the common room, a door hidden by some barrels. You had to knock on a specific part of the lid a certain way to open the door, which amused Sal. 

Maybe they could do that to the trap door back at Addison Apartments. He knew he needed to solve what was going on there without arousing suspicion from his counterpart. Spells will only help their endeavor.

Harry side eyed Travis as they gathered into the room. He didn’t know how much Travis knew, he only knew that he was alive in their timeline longer than Sal himself. 

He resolved to ask later.

For now, he did as all the other first years did, and looked around the common room.

Despite what he had suspicions about, house colors and all, the room wasn’t gaudy and blinding. It fact, it was rather nice. 

There were black walls, nearly inch to inch covered in ivys, hanging plants, cork-boards, banners, fliers, and art. There was even a whiteboard that was being hung up at that moment, and the beginnings of older students tossing communal pillows and blankets over couches for the year.

The floors were a soft brown carpet, turning into grey tile next to the fireplace. The fireplace itself was bricked with alternating shades of grey. There were couches and armchairs lining the wall next to the fireplace, all a mustard color that was easy on the eyes. The wall opposite had three hallways, each behind dark tinted glass doors. The left was labeled girls, right labeled boys, and the middle labeled neutral. 

The wall left of the doors had a few cabinets and counters, holding leisure activities like board games and craft supplies. There were a few coffee makers and microwaves, a fridge, and a snack cabinet.

The wall to the right of the hall was actually two walls, in a triangular shape going out of the room, and it was lined with bookshelves. There were a few light grey bean bags, and a few larger mustard ones, and a bunch of pale yellow pillows, all in the center of the shelving.

Older students milled about or went to their hallways. He saw a few making coco as well.

After a bit of standing around, a middle-aged lady entered the room, Professor Sprout from earlier. Sal lit up, turning to her as she began to speak.

“Hello children, and welcome to Hufflepuff House. I am Professor Sprout, your herbology teacher and head of house. From this day till the day you graduate, you will be a puff, and we have a few expectations,” her face caught a few students nervously shifting, and she gave a warm smile. “Nothing to be nervous about, really.”

Sprout made her way to the bulletin and pointed out a large paper. “We have the rules here for if you need to recheck them at a later time, let’s start then?” She clasped her hands together. “Firstly, everyone must be in the commons by nine, and must be in their rooms by ten. Third year and up is commons by ten and rooms by eleven. Lights out is up to you.”

“Second, as you must have noticed, we have three dorm halls. We have finally bypassed the Headmaster’s old rule about the dorm separation by getting the support of parents. It was a near-unanimous for it from most parents, on the condition that we use a gender neutral dorm for those of us who don’t identify as what we were born as. Students who don’t feel comfortable around others or just want to stay in a neutral dorm are also allowed to use this dorm. As was last year, every room, no matter the dorm, may have up to four people in it, however feel free to have your own room. Hogwarts always makes room. Just walk into a dorm and tap a plak to claim it. If you want to join an already taken room, you have to have the residents approval.”

“Thirdly, you can bring food into your room and the commons, as long as you clean up after yourself. You can eat meals in your rooms, the commons, or the kitchens if you don’t feel comfortable eating in the great hall.”

“Lastly, puffs stick together. If you see someone getting bullied, help or get a teacher or older student, preferable from Ravenclaw. Puffs are often seen as pushovers and get pushed around a lot, but I implore you to stand up for yourself. Stick to groups, younger years, and be careful. Any questions?”

No one answered, and she smiled, nodding. “Alright then, go off to your rooms. Upper years, if you’d like to change your room to the neutral dorm, go ahead. First years, go ahead and claim one. Dismissed.” Proffer Sprout ended with an incline of the head and left to her own rooms out of the commons. 

Sal turned to Travis with a shrug, smiling. “So.. im guessing you’re going to the guys..?”

Travis frowned. “Yeah, sorry.”

“No, it’s fine.”

Sal bid Travis goodbye and left to the middle hall, neutral. He nodded to a few students dragging trunks down the hall, and grabbed the one at the end, on a wall with a window.

He tapped his wand to the bronze plaque and Harry’s name appeared on it in bold black letters. He slipped into the room quietly sighing. 

One bed.

He went and tapped the plaque again, turning it into a bunk bed.

Good.

The room was similar to the commons in the walls and floor, and yellow bedsheets, but otherwise it was plain. A desk and dresser sat on a wall, and his bed was just under and over the window.

He shoved his trunk on the top bunk to claim it before Larry came and did, anc started climbing up the ladder to it. He dug around in his trunk, pulling out a curtain that reached just above the bottom of his mattress, and hung it up around the bed. It was sheer black, and filtered enough light to make it somewhat dim.

He checked the clock on the wall and sighed. Ten o’clock.

He might as well call it in early and go to sleep. 

He changed quickly, giving a startle when Lup suddenly materialized through the door, mewing and jumping onto the bottom bunk. Sal smiled, picking her up, and placing her on the top bunk with him.

He fell asleep not five minutes later.

**Author's Note:**

> Yo, the thought of this wouldn’t leave so I had to write it. Whoops. R&R?


End file.
